Review of Jaws 2 (1978) by Tony P — 23 Dec 2017

Jaws sequels always seem to be frowned upon for two reasons:

A) The original 1975 Steven Spielberg directed Jaws was so damn good and b) the sequels on the whole (and I've only seen shark bait portions past 2 are so pap!).

However if this film is judged on its own merits and if it was more standalone and made a few years later it would be more lauded much like shark films I have seen more recently such as The Shallows which rips off some elements of this.

Several cast members return in this sequel. Sequels weren't as commonplace in 1978 as today I suppose so that was good.

However Spielberg doesn't direct. Directing duties fall to Jeannot Swarc who I have never heard of but does a respectable job.

Again the film centres on the resort of Amity Island and the embattled police chief Brody (Roy Schieder).

After several mystery deaths near Amity, Brody begins to smell a Great White may be on the loose again.

The odious Mayor Vaughn (Murray Hamilton) again displays agitation at Brodys antics much as he did in the original (I've already broken my pledge not to compare to the original!).

Brodys own children are the centrepiece I suppose this time. Just how will he react when he finds out they may be in danger from the killer beast?

What follows is a deadly game of shark and annoying seventies kids floating on rafts and overturned boats near some cable junction.

Cable junction is a small island that supplies power from the mainland to Amity via a series of high voltage underwater cables.

It is via one of these cables that Brody entices the shark and it meets a nice death being zapped at several thousand volts to a John Williams score!

A respectable film in its own right but not up to the heights of the original. A worthy film to be broadcast on cable TV in a graveyard shift.